Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermally driven condenser unit and an adsorption heat or refrigeration plant.
Description of the Background Art
WO 2007/068481 A1, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 8,806,883, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an adsorption heat pump, having a plurality of hollow elements, each having an adsorption-desorption region and an evaporation-condensation region, i.e., a phase change region. The hollow elements have a heat transport fluid flowing through them in each of these regions, with cyclic changes by means of valve arrangements in the interconnection of the hollow elements with regard to the fluid flow. The plurality of hollow elements to be filled with a working medium may have the disadvantage of a high cost of installation.
WO 2013/011102 A1, which corresponds to US 20140223955, and which describes a concept of a sorption module, in which tube bundles arranged in a shared housing are arranged for transfer of the adsorption-desorption heat to an adsorber structure on the one hand and heat of condensation and evaporation to a phase change structure on the other hand, wherein the housing concept comprise a supporting structure which accommodates the pressure difference between the external atmospheric pressure and the vacuum prevailing in the working medium space.
A disadvantage in the conventional art is that in desorption of working media from the sorption zone, a portion of the working medium is condensed in cool locations of the housing wall and thereby lost for the subsequent evaporation. This lost condensate additionally cools the housing wall in re-evaporation, causing a cold surface in the next partial cycle with renewed condensation so that unwanted faulty condensation takes place there again. This is associated with a loss of power and efficiency. In addition, the possibility cannot be ruled out that in automotive applications, larger amounts of working media already condensed may be lost due to spillage because of vibration of the housing wall. Another disadvantage is the complex construction of the sorption module, the manufacture of which requires expensive tools.
One disadvantage of sorption modules known in the past having an integrated condensation and evaporation structure is the storage of refrigeration which has not previously been implemented. This requires an externally controllable fluid cutoff option between the condensation structure and the evaporation structure. Although this is a given with known approaches having separate condensers, nonreturn valves for the desorbed vapor are required for this purpose and must have an opening pressure, which is subject to loss, and a sufficient cross section for the vapor density of the working medium.